A day at Keukenhof Gardens

Day 2 in Amsterdam was spent at Keukenhof Gardens.  For those of you that haven't heard of the gardens it is like the Disneyland of tulips.  Last weekend 60,000 people visited the gardens. Keukenhof is only open for two months each year.

A river of flowers

Azaleas in were in bloom too.

Another visitor to the gardens

There must be hundreds of tulip varieties in the gardens. As some tulips finish blooming the beds are replaced with new plants so the gardens look great for the two months they are open.

This picture was taken near closing time. Earlier in the day there would have been hundreds of people in the photo.

The grounds are beautiful.  When Kathy and I arrive early in the morning the staff was hand mowing the grass.

Another closing time picture.  Kathy showed great patience because I setup here and waiting twenty minutes for everyone to leave before taking the shot. 

There is also a small Japanese Garden on site

Early morning picture.  The weatherman had promised blue skies in the afternoon. But he didn't deliver.

Kathy wanted to see what it was like to walk in shoes my size.

Another early morning picture before many of the tour buses arrived.

Wish my backyard looked like this.  Two hours after I took this picture there must have been five hundred people in this area.

A different view

One of the unique tulip varieties.

They opened a new indoor rose display today.  This new rainbow rose was quite strange looking. Hard to believe it is a real rose.

Every year they have a special display. This year they used flowers to layout the canal area of Amsterdam. Each blue area represents a canal. Each other color tulip represents a canal house. There is one tulip for every house. In the late 1600's one tulip bulb had the same value at one of the canal homes. 

Hope you enjoyed the Keukenhof photographs. Tomorrow we are off to see windmills in the Zaanse Schan area.